In a typical ink jet recording or printing system, ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle at high speed towards a recording element or medium to produce an image on the medium. The ink droplets, or recording liquid, generally comprise a recording agent, such as a dye or pigment, and a large amount of solvent. The solvent, or carrier liquid, typically is made up of water and an organic material such as a monohydric alcohol, a polyhydric alcohol or mixtures thereof.
An ink jet recording element typically comprises a support having on at least one surface thereof an ink-receiving or image-receiving layer, and includes those intended for reflection viewing, which have an opaque support, and those intended for viewing by transmitted light, which have a transparent support.
An important characteristic of ink jet recording elements is their need to dry quickly after printing. To this end, porous recording elements have been developed which provide nearly instantaneous drying as long as they have sufficient thickness and pore volume to effectively contain the liquid ink. For example, a porous recording element can be manufactured by coating in which a particulate-containing coating is applied to a support and is dried.
When a porous recording element is printed with dye-based inks, the dye molecules penetrate the coating layers. However, there is a problem with such porous recording elements in that the optical densities of images printed thereon are lower than one would like. The lower optical densities are believed to be due to optical scatter which occurs when the dye molecules penetrate too far into the porous layer. Another problem with a porous recording element is that atmospheric gases or other pollutant gases readily penetrate the element and lower the optical density of the printed image causing it to fade.
EPA 1174279A teaches the use of zinc oxide in inkjet recording elements to improve light stability. However, there is problem with such elements in that they do not provide protection against environmental gasses such as ozone.
EPA 988993A and EPA 893270A disclose the use of aluminum hydrate and aluminum hydroxides in ink jet recording elements. However, there is a problem with these elements in that they do not provide good image stability.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ink jet recording element that, when printed with dye-based inks, provides superior optical densities, good image quality, image stability and has an excellent dry time.